


Wish Him Luck

by DatLAG



Category: Super Dangan Ronpa 2
Genre: Alternate Universe - Demon Hunters, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Blood, Demon Hunters, Fireworks, Fluff, Hunters & Hunting, Hurt/Comfort, Kitsune, M/M, Magic, Reincarnation, Souls, Temporary Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-25
Updated: 2020-12-02
Packaged: 2021-03-09 17:54:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 12,097
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27710300
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DatLAG/pseuds/DatLAG
Summary: Hunter Hajime Hinata was on a new job to slay a demon killing a village's sheep everyday. However, turned out this demon was just a kitsune sustaining himself, as he did not know how to hunt.So, Hajime decided to take it on himself to teach the creature how to hunt, and maybe a bit how to live too.
Relationships: Hinata Hajime/Komaeda Nagito
Comments: 49
Kudos: 213





	1. Sympathy For a Killer

**Author's Note:**

> Yep, it's time folks i too have fallen in the kitsune fad  
> i actually have so many AU drafts it's physically painful, but this one _I got it all figured out_

Hajime lurked around the herd of sheep, keeping his presence hidden with mud covering him. It was the time of day for demons to come out, and if the villagers’ stories were true, it was only a matter of time. He at least hoped that it wasn’t something too big like an Oni, but since there was only one kill everyday, that was unlikely.

One of the sheep raised its head off the grass he was eating, seemingly noticing something, and it started strolling towards the woods.

Was it being baited out? It would explain how none of the villagers ever saw the creature coming out. Hajime slowly followed the animal while keeping his distance.

He heard the sound of a cut, the sheep’s life had probably ended. Going deeper into the forest, he braced himself for what he was going to see, and put his hand on his blessed sword.

His expectations were shattered when he found the sheep’s corpse. it died from a clean bloody cut to the neck, and next to it, was a crouching kitsune in human form. It was a teen, looking around Hajime’s age, with fluffy poofy white hair, white ears, white tails, and a long white, red and green garb. Very pretty looking. Definitely wasn’t what Hajime expected.

The kitsune sliced open the sheep’s guts with a magic cut, and once with access to the meat inside, he cut it into thin slices some more, levitated them with magic, and lit the chunks on fire to cook it.

It seemed civilized to be able to do all of this, it definitely wasn’t a ravenous beast, maybe it was possible to negotiate. However, one could never be too careful.

Hajime brought out the creature’s attention by knocking on a tree trunk, the kitsune’s ears moved and he turned towards the hunter as he finished swallowing one last piece of meat.

Against Hajime’s expectations, he didn’t jump away or fled on the spot, instead he laughed. “Ah… I’ve been caught! I guess it was only a matter of time.” He sighed. “Now then? Are you going to kill me?”

Hajime raised an eyebrow. “Well… I’m _supposed_ to kill you but reconsidering right now.” At least he could talk to him, maybe he could convince him to stop killing the village’s herd.

“Oh. That’s a surprise.” The pale kitsune shrugged. “But please don’t hold back! If you need to kill me, kill me! I am but a lowly illusionary creature.”

The brunette almost cringed. “Yeah… I definitely don’t want to do that anymore…” He meant it, his killing intent from earlier completely disappeared, it was replaced with pity.

“Showing me mercy? How unexpected, but how kind!”

Hajime ignored the weird comment and cut to the chase as he sheathed his sword. "If you can talk then can you explain why you’re killing the sheeps everyday?”

The kitsune let out a sigh. “To eat of course. Because a lowly creature like me doesn’t know how to hunt!”

“Huh?” The brunette was shocked. “You’re _that_ skilled in magic and you can’t hunt?”

The creature gasped. “Are you praising me!? Why thank you! And yes, I was never taught how to hunt.” He shrugged. “I was a noble in my previous life, always bed ridden, then I died and became what you see today! Magic at my fingertips but no clue how to sustain myself!”

That explained a lot. kitsunes were humans that died in an “unfair” manner, accidents, sickness, murder, and a close contact with the paranormal or some kind of magical object could make them reborn as a kitsune, although there was always one condition for it, the hunter thought it had to do something with the mortal body but he didn’t remember.

Anyways Hajime felt he wouldn’t be able to sleep at night if he slaughtered the young kitsune in front of him, for multiple reasons, however the village was very adamant to make him murder the creature in cold blood. 

But maybe he could find a compromise so he could sleep comfortably at night.

“What’s your name?” Asked Hajime.

“You care about that?” Replied the genuinely surprised kitsune.

“Yes I do. My name’s Hajime. What’s yours?”

“Well,” He brought his hand to his chin in thought. “I used to be called Nagito in my previous life…”

“Ok so, Nagito…” Hajime walked closer to the kitsune. “Let’s make a deal.”

The white haired creature was curious. “What kind?”

“You don’t kill anymore sheep, and in exchange, I teach you how to hunt for yourself, so you don’t need to pry on raised animals.”

Nagito raised an eyebrow. “I am… in favor of this deal but I would hate to take on your precious time. And aren’t you supposed to kill me?”

The brunette sighed heavily. “I can just tell the villagers the creature’s persistent and I’m still hunting it, then when we’re done I’ll say I killed it and I’ll bring like a chunk of fur to prove it or something. I already did it before.” Indeed. Hajime had his fair share of spared monsters, usually the ones he pitied, so this wasn't a first.

“Not a bad idea.” Praised the pale teen.

Hajime wiped his muddy hand against leaves and extended it. “Deal?”

The kitsune kept staring at his hand, curious but confused.

“Wait, you don’t know about handshakes?”

“Oh, that’s what it is!” Exclaimed Nagito in realisation. He slowly took the hunter’s hand, for a supposedly illusionist creature, his hand was surprisingly warm, but weak and bony.

Hajime let out a long sigh. He could tell this was going to take a _while._

Speaking of which, Nagito was also taking a while to let go.

“Huh… you’re supposed to let go of the hand when it’s done.” Hajime clarified.

“Oh.” The kitsune slowly released his grip. “My apologies! I don’t think I’ve ever felt human warmth before!”

“That’s… worrying…”

* * *

Hajime went back to the village saying he had spotted the creature but it had ran away before he could do anymore, but he could confirm there was indeed something in the woods, and that he would stay until he slayed it. He slept soundly that night.

The next day he came to the forest with a meal he prepared in his bag, both for himself and Nagito, after all, he couldn’t kill the sheep to sustain himself anymore as per the deal, deal he kept as there was no victim found this morning. He found the kitsune at the same spot he found him the first time.

“Hello there.” Said the white haired teen, sitting down on the grass. “You kept your promise!”

“Of course I did.” The hunter sat down next to him, and an idea crossed his mind. He turned to the tree they were pressed on, the one Hajime knocked on the first time. He pulled out his knife and carved on it.

“What is this for?” Curiously asked the fox.

“A mark, so we know where to meet.” He finished, he put his own mark, a star shaped form. “There.” He put back his knife. “Now we can start the lessons.”

He and Nagito got up and pushed deeper into the woods, the kitsune, curious, eventually wondered: “What are we going to learn first?”

“Concealling our presence.”

“Ooh stealth?”

“Exactly. When we met you didn’t sense my presence right?”

Nagito chuckled. “Indeed I didn’t!”

In their way was a tall rock, Hajime jumped on it and extended his hand to help Nagito up. “To accomplish that, I needed to do two things, and I managed that with a signle one.”

The kitsune slowly slid his hand in Hajime’s, probably still not used to human contact.

While pulling the other up, Hajime continued. “First is hiding your scent. For that you just need to put another natural scent on you.”

“Was that why you were…” Nagito let out a grunt from the leg work of pulling himself up the rock. “-covered in mud?”

“Yeah. I know it’s not classy.” After finishing to help Nagito, he kept walking forward up a slope. “It also serves to accomplish the second thing which is hiding your inner warmth. Some creatures can detect your heat, but that won’t be necessary for you, unless you want to hunt fellow mythical creatures.”

The kitsune smiled. “I’ll stick to normal meals, thank you very much.”

His delivery almost got a laugh out of Hajime. “Anyways, you need to conceal your scent if it’s especially noticeable.”

They both attained the peak of the slope, where a river was located.

Hajime continued. “I’m sure you already know how to find water, but rivers are not useful just for that and washing yourself, this is where you can get the mud I talked about, and also...”

The brunette stared deep into the water, slowly pulling out his knife and waiting for an opportunity. Quickly, a shadow went close to the side of the river, and Hajime stabbed.

He then pulled out a struggling fish impaled at the tip of the blade. He turned around and showed his catch to Nagito. “... for fish.”

The white fox was wide eyed at the demonstration. “Impressive.”

Hajime felt a bit awkward at the compliment. “Not really, it’s one of the basics as a hunter. Fish is easy to find, as long as you have a big enough river, and you should try at more inoffensive prey instead of immediately jumping to bigger enemies.” He planted the knife into the ground with the fish for later. “Do you want to try with a weapon or magic?”

“I’m not the biggest fan of knives so…” Nagito touched his wrist. “I’ll try my way to start.”

“Alright.” Hajime made way for Nagito to get close to the river. “It’s better to stand in the middle of the river when you start. I was lucky to catch a fish when close to the side.”

The kitsune laughed. “Luck huh? My specialty.”

Hajime put his bag on land of the river and rolled up his pants. “I’ll get in to show you.” Once done, he put one feet into the river, the cold embrace of the water made him shiver.

Nagito watched him and did the same. Taking the lower part of his garb in hand, folding it and tying it to keep it above his knees. He too put his feet in the water, and loudly shuddered.

“Cold huh? Get used to it.”

Nagito chuckled. “I’ve seen colder.”

“Yeah. Nights outside get cold alright.” Hajime stared at the fishes swimming down the river in between their legs. “Want me to demonstrate again or you want to try now?”

Nagito rolled up his sleeve as a sign he was going to try. He put the index and middle finger of his right hand against each other and put his hand down, waiting for an opportunity. After some seconds, he quickly brought his hand up with the sound of a slice, and out of the water jumped a cut up fin.

“Ah. You were close though.” Commented Hajime.

“Luck isn’t on my side after all.” Chuckled the white creature.

Hajime crossed his arms. “Come on, didn’t you just say it was your specialty?”

Nagito shrugged. “My luck is capricious.”

The hunter could just feel questions pop up inside him, but he wasn’t the magic expert here. So he just rolled with it and shrugged as well.

Nagito repeated his motion, bringing his fingers together and waiting for a fish to come by.

Once again, he quickly raised his hand and threw a magical cut, and with the mouvement, a fish was thrown out of the water with a gash in its stomach, and was kept in the air by telekinesis.

Hajime was about to compliment Nagito for the progress, but he suddenly felt a cut on his cheek. _“Tch-”_ He breathed out.

He touched the cut, he felt a bit of blood. The kitsune noticed and got closer, his rapid steps echoing loudly in the water. “Are you alright!? I-”

The brunette waved his hand. “I’m ok it’s just a cut.”

“My sincere apologies…” The creature looked down, his ears following the movement, he let out a sad smile, holding his fingers. “It seemed luck really _wasn’t_ with me.”

Hajime could already tell he was blaming himself, he tried to damage control the situation. “It’s alright, accidents happen.”

“Accidents happen _a lot_ with me Hajime.”

The sentence cut through the mood like a sword. There was darkness behind those words, but Hajime had seen his fair share of darkness as a hunter, and wasn’t scared in the slightest.

The ears down reminded him of a dog needing reassurance, so he put his hand in the kitsune’s hair and rubbed slightly.

“Alright. Let’s stop for today, I’m getting hungry anyway.”

He slid his hand out of the other’s hair and walked back to shore. Nagito wasn’t moving for a beat, but he slowly slid his own hand where Hajime had touched.

The brunette looked back at him, Nagito’s face unreadable from the angle Hajime was, and called out: “Come on, don’t stay in there too long you might get sick.”

This seemed to have snapped the fox out of his transe. “Oh. Right.”

He strolled back to land and untied his garb, sitting down on the soft thick gravel next to Hajime. The brunette picked up his knife, and the fish Nagito caught was still floating magically, the kitsune moving his hand to bring it back to shore next to Hajime’s capture. The brunette then dug in his bag for ointment, he put just a little bit of it on his finger before slowly applying it on the tiny wound.

After Nagito made sure Hajime was alright, he wasted no time catching the fish on fire to fry it, and Hajime passed his own fish over to him to do the same. While the kitsune was slicing and starting to eat, the hunter brought out the rest of the meal.

The pale creature looked his way. “What’s this?”

Hajime pulled out the food. “Some rice and sweets.”

“It has been so long since I tasted human food! I mean- If I get to taste that is.” Hajime answered with a simple nod granting him permission. He scooted closer to Hajime. “However I’m not the biggest fan of sweets.”

“Well you’re picky. We can share the rice.” He searched for his bag again for chopsticks, two pairs in fact, and handed one over to Nagito.

He put the box of rice in between them and kept the sweets on his side, opening both boxes while the kitsune was getting familiar with the human tools again.

They both took their time enjoying the meal. Nagito seemed to enjoy the salty seasoning Hajime had made, and the fox was shocked he managed to cook it by himself. The fish also tasted good, after all, meals one would catch or prepare themselves always tasted better.

Hajime also heard that all meals were better with friends. He couldn’t exactly count Nagito in the friend category _yet,_ but maybe with some time.

At least he was sure he enjoyed his company for now. A hunter teaching a kitsune the art of hunting, how ironic.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And thats the start! I hesitate wether I should put all the tags right away, because I want to keep the surprise when stuff will happen. And I warned that it's gonna get angsty. _Oh So Angsty_


	2. Blaze of Glory

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hajime and Nagito do something nice for one another.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I actually started writing the other chapters instead of this one for a while so I wasn't even sure if i was able to finish it for the next day sjdfwkjfdv but i did it! And I chewed some work for later, so maybe that'll gain me some time

It has now been a week since the start of their deal, Nagito had mastered the arts of fishing, and next on the list were hunting herbivores.

The villagers noticed the absence of assaults on their herd and congratulated Hajime for his work, however the brunette lied that his work wasn’t over yet, that he was searching for the demon’s den to keep another from coming. The lie seemed to be enough for this demon hating village to swallow.

Well it was  _ half _ a lie, as his work was indeed not over yet.

He appeared at the same spot they always did, the star shaped mark, and Nagito was sitting down in the grass, like always.

The brunette peeked out from behind a bush and jumped down a tiny slope. “Hi.”

“Hello Hajime!” He exclaimed with a smile. “How are you?”

“Fine. And you?”

“The usual.” He quickly got up. “What are we going to do today?”

“Actual hunting, no more fishing. Actually how was fishing on your end? Did you try when I’m not here?”

“Well,” He nodded. “I was able to catch some by myself.”

“Good!”

As Hajime moved, there was a little jingle of noise, and Nagito’s ears moved in accordance. “What’s this?”

“Oh, hum…” Hajime was a bit embarrassed, as he only suddenly had the idea late at night, and bought a little something on impulse the same evening and had to come up with a flimsy excuse as of why he needed it. And he was sure they didn’t fully buy it. But whatever.

Nagito watched carefully as Hajime reached into his pocket, and pulled two little silver bells on a thick green string. The fox was looking curiously at the object. “What is this for?”

“Well…” Hajime couldn’t fight the blush creeping on his face completely. “I don’t know I just… thought it was nice…” He held out the bells towards the kitsune. “Take it as a gift, I guess…” He was looking away embarrassed, even after all this time he wasn’t very good at giving gifts.

He also knew from experience that making friendly demons and monster experience some human things would help sympathize with them and find good things about humanity, and hopefully find a place within the community where they will be accepted.

Nagito was in awe, and held out a shaky hand as the brunette gently put the silver bells in his palms. “I hope you like it.” Smiled Hajime.

The fox played with the bells for a bit, quietly listening to the sounds and fiddling with the string before looking at the hunter. “Hajime, can you come closer?”

“Hum- Sure?” It was a weird request, but there was nothing wrong with that.

Nagito took the string in both his hands and approached Hajime with a smile. He then, for the brunette’s surprise, slid the string around his neck.

The blush was back with a revenge. “W-what are you doing?”

“I’m honored you gave me this! Really! And if this is a gift, I can do whatever I want with it right?” His smile was so innocent.

“Well…” The flush persisted. “Yes.”

“Then let me do this please!” He finished tying the bells to Hajime’s neck, quite neatly and properly, and even flickered them with his fingers to be sure it still worked. “There.”

“Why would you do that..?” To be honest he was dreading the answer already.

Nagito chuckled. “With this,” He gazed at the silver bells with a deep look in his eyes. “I can always tell you’re here.”

Hajime should’ve probably asked for more information, but the kitsune pretty clearly kept his sentence vague on purpose.

He didn’t know Nagito’s past aside from what he told him, but it was pretty clear it wasn’t a happy one. And living in the wild with no clue how to hunt must’ve been a terrible experience, without even counting the other stuff that could’ve happened to him. Previous life maybe not even withstanding.

He wanted a presence. He was lonely, that was pretty clear. So, even if he was a bit…  _ very _ weird, Hajime was willing to be that presence, be a friend. At least for a while.

“A-alright. But I’ll maybe have to take it off sometimes, ya know… Not rouse suspicions with the villagers and when I hunt…”

“I know.” Replied the other with a smile.

“But,” Hajime cleared his throat, swallowing down his embarrassment. “I’ll make sure to wear it when I visit you.”

The white fox’s eyes slowly lifted themselves up to look deep inside Hajime’s. Green meeting grey. For a second, the brunette god lost in their colors, like a typhoon it was swallowing his attention.

However, the brunette quickly snapped out of his transe, realizing his behavior and flushing harder than before while looking away. “O-ok, now let’s get to today’s lesson.”

The kitsune let out a small laugh as he squeezed Hajime’s shoulder. “Yeah.”

* * *

“Hajime, can  _ I _ teach something?”

“Hum?”

In the middle of a massive plain in the midst of the forest, a carved deer next to them, caught to demonstrate by Hajime, they were enjoying a meal of more meat and seasoned rice.

The brunette was curious at the kitsune’s question. “What do you mean?”

“Well…” Nagito took some rice in his mouth before quickly chewing and swallowing. “You teach me so much, I want to do something  _ for you _ this time.”

Hajime shrugged. “You’re already helping me by  _ not _ killing the village’s sheep. That’s more than enough for me.”

“But I want to do more! A legitimate reward for helping me like this!” He proclaimed, looking at the brunette with renewed determination.

The hunter could tell he wouldn’t budge on his decision. He could give in for a bit, there were taking a break after all. Just a bit though. “Alright. What do you want to teach me?”

Nagito put down his food and scooted closer, showed Hajime his hand, opened. He then closed it halfway and only raised his index finger. He then waved his hand, and inside the space in his palm, a small ball of fire formed, however it was sparkling. He then raised his hand, the index finger towards the sky, and the sparks flew up in the hair, and exploded in a burst of red, sparks looking like red squares that lasted for a bit in the clear blue sky.

“Wow.” Hajime couldn’t help but let out.

“Ever heard of fireworks Hajime?”

“Well, i heard of it, but I never saw one before.”

Nagito chuckled. “Us kitsune are specialists in illusions and tricks. And this was a magic firework.”

The brunette could recall always wanting to watch a firework show, but never coming as he was too focused on training and educating himself. So he was glad Nagito unintentionally fulfilled an old childhood dream. “That’s really nice.”

“I know right?”

“You’re a fan of pretty things isn’t it?”

“I’m not hiding it.”

The brunette chuckled. “So, what do you want to teach me?”

“What I just showed you.”

“Wait…” Hajime raised an eyebrow. “You want to teach me how to make a firework?”

“Yes!” Said the other with much enthusiasm. “Would you allow this lowly creature to teach you the art of fireworks?”

Hajime sighed. “What did I say before about calling yourself like that? And of course you can teach me.” He didn’t really know how this could become useful, but he never knew.

Nagito put his hand over his mouth. “Oh, sorry.” But he let out a smile. “I’m glad you’re letting me! Now allow me to show you.” The white haired teen scooted closer to the other, sliding behind him. “Which hand are you better with?”

“Left.”

“Alright!” He took his left hand, which made the other teen a bit flustered, but he shoved down his awkwardness. “Close your hand, but let a bit of space in between your fingers and your palm.” As he explained, he showed the mouvements to Hajime. The brunette focused on retaining it to memory and ignored the other pressing more and more on his back. “Then raise your index, and gently move your hand in a circle, like you were trying to move a pearl in it.”

Hajime did so, but a question popped in his mind. “Wait, are you sure I can do this spell?”

“Definitely!” Replied the pale teen. “I can sense a decent amount of magic in you. And this is an easy spell. Now…”

The brunette slowly noticed a ball of blue sparks forming in his hand, it was warm, but it didn’t burn.

“See? Now just let it simmer some more…”

He did so, and Nagito gave his signal.

“Now you raise your hand!”

Hajime executed the command, and sure enough, the sparks flew out of his hand into the sky. Out of it bursted a blue star with green and whie sparks that, just like Nagito’s, stayed quite a bit in the air.

Hajime was surprised he actually managed it, and Nagito was ecstatic. “Amazing Hajime!”

“Can I ask you why it's different? The look of the firework I mean.”

“Oh, that’s an easy question.” Nagito raised a finger. “The firework is unique for each individual, the shape, the colors, only the caster can make it this specific form. A trademark or birthmark of sorts.”

The brunette stared at his hand. “Huh.”

“Don’t worry Hajime!” Nagito put his hands on the hunter’s shoulder and leaned in close to his ear. “It was a very pretty firework! I’ll never forget it!”

Hello blush, Hajime’s old friend. “D-don’t exaggerate…”

“I don’t exaggerate!”

“Yes you do. A lot.”

“I know.”

Hajime stated one more thing as he patted Nagito’s hair, pushing him away gently as he giggled. “Also your hair tickles!”

They both laughed and enjoyed the rest of their meal in comfortable silence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What's this? More gap moe? Absolutely


	3. Short Blessings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hajime and Nagito gets into a bit of danger.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What's this double update? well yes, i am actually a lot in advance so I thought why not  
> and im accesorily starving for interactions and i am not proud of it jdfcnskjk,j

Another week went by, and Nagito could now manage to make traps to catch prey. He was surprisingly smart when it came to place the traps, managing to kill the animal inside without accidentally releasing them was another story. However his illusion magic was very practical when it came to lure them into traps.

Bringing material for the traps seemed to appease the suspicions of the villagers, but Hajime could tell there was something going on. He couldn’t put his finger on why, he tried asking around but they refused to say anymore. Maybe it was some kind of “born here only” event? He didn’t know and who was he to judge them.

Like always, he came down the tiny slope to greet Nagito, who was sitting in front of the star shaped mark.

The bells on his neck signaled his presence, and Nagito ‘s ears perked up and he turned around to face him. “Sorry for the wait.” Smiled Hajime.

“Oh don’t worry.” Nagito waved his hand. “I haven't been waiting that long.”

This actually made a question pop inside the brunette’s mind. “Really? Then what do you do when I’m gone?”

With the most innocent smile he declared. “Wait for you to come back!”

Hajime chuckled. “Good one.” Thinking it was a good jest.

“It’s not a joke!”

It took some seconds for the information to go up to his brain. “... huh?”

Nagito got up from the ground. “I don’t exactly have a lot to do.” He got closer and grabbed Hajime’s hands. “So the time I spend with you is a highlight for me!”

This caught Hajime off guard greatly, and he decided to use that as the excuse as of why his chest just warmed up deeply. He swallowed. “That’s… good I guess b-but you should find things to do by yourself too.”

Still not letting go of Hajime’s hands, he asked. “Like, hobbies?”

“Y-yeah. Activities you like and can do alone.”

He let go of Hajime and brought his hand to his chin. “I think I have one at least. Aside from training with magic and hunting!”

“Oh? What is it?”

Nagito raised a finger and smiled. “It’s a secret!”

The brunette sighed. “Oh come on…”

“I’ll tell you when I’ll feel like it!” He teased.

“And when is that gonna be?”

“Earlier than you think!”

Hajime sighed again. “Anyways, let’s make some more traps.”

“Alright!”

They went deeper into the forest and started making nets together, both working on the same one, using vines to weave the trap. As Nagito, in the wild, wouldn’t be able to get his hands on ropes easily. Hajime showed him how to search for good plants to use to make objects, as well as things to eat.

“Oh Nagito, you need to put it _above_ here.” Pointed Hajime out, as there was an error on the other’s side of the net.

“Oh?” The white fox followed the brunette’s finger. “Right. Sorry.”

“Don’t apologize, you always mess up when you start.” Hajime pulled on one of the vines to tie a knot.

“I’m amazed, Hajime. It’s amazing how you’re able to tolerate scum like me.”

The hunter let out a loud sigh. “I told you to stop calling yourself that. And I don’t _tolerate_ you, I _appreciate_ you.”

“You…” The kitsune slowly lifted his head off his work. “You do?”

Without even looking up, Hajime said the obvious answer. “Duh. I’m doing this because I want to. Remember when you said you looked forward to our time together? Well, I do too.” Inside his mind he also added _“There. Happy?”,_ to try and mask his embarrassment at the admission.

Nagito stayed silent for a beat, before breathing out. “You’re so kind.”

The other teen didn’t know how to answer. He wanted to say some kind of rebuttal, as he didn't know how to feel about receiving compliments like this, but it was probably better to let it be. He maybe wanted to show some modesty, but he’ll indulge Nagito for now. The fox needed to be able to speak his mind.

The good times were short lived however when Hajime sensed danger.

He then heard an ominous noise, Nagito didn’t seem to have noticed however.

But before the hunter could alert the other teen of the danger, a massive black form was coming down the kitsune.

His instincts screaming, he wasted no time in pushing Nagito away and brandishing his sword to block the attack. What was attacking them was a black bear, hoozing black magic. Probably an animal corrupted by a monster or demon. It was rare but it was still a phenomenon that could cause serious trouble.

Hajime’s blessed sword was ineffective against normal creatures, so all he could do was use it normally.

The brunette was pressed by the beast’s arm on his sword, the animal's massive strength pushing him as he tried to hang on to his ground. “Damn- Nagito! _Run!”_

The kitsune was still on the ground, frightened after Hajime pushed him.

“Don’t stay there! Just run! Get away!”

Nagito was still not moving.

“Come on! Just go! Don’t worry about me! I’ll handle-” The bear slammed down his other arm on the sword. _“URG-_ This!”

This seemed to have finally made the white haired teen react as he got up his feet. With that sight, the brunette went back to focus on repelling the menace with peace of mind that Nagito wouldn’t get hurt.

However, that was cut short when he heard footsteps coming closer, and a gash appearing in one of the bear’s eyes with a loud slicing sound. “Wha-” The brunette exclaimed.

The fox was behind him, indexes and middle fingers reunited, lifting his hands back and forth and sending wave after waves of cuts. The animal roared in pain and Hajime could feel the pressure lessening.

He used the occasion to push the beast's limbs away and stab his sword in its guts. The bear let out a pained cry, and the kitsune behind him made a hand motion; he put down his middle fingers and put up his little fingers along his indexes. The new finger formation summoned a new spell, and from his hands came out a torrent of blue flames that burned the animals face.

The beast writhed in pain, Hajime pulled out his sword, and the animal fell on the ground, emptying itself of its blood, dead.

Hajime let out a long sigh of relief as he let himself fall to the floor, and he quickly turned his head towards the kitsune. “Nagit-”

Before he could finish however, the other teen tackled him in a hug.

 _“Wow-!”_ He couldn’t help but let out out of surprise and embarrassment.

Nagito was squeezing him in his arms hard, and the brunette could even feel the fox tails wrap themselves around his legs, as if hugging with his arms wasn’t enough.

Hajime couldn’t exactly ask _“What are you doing?”_ because it was pretty clear already, and suddenly heard the bells on his neck being played with.

The pale kitsune was poking at the object, making it produce noises constantly.

The brunette didn’t get why, until he remembered what Nagito said when he tied the bells.

He smiled and hugged the other back. His hair was tickling his neck which made him let out a little chuckle.

This act seemed to have made the other hug harder.

After a while, Nagito finally let go of Hajime, wearing his classic smile, and they both started to take care of the bear. It was a good occasion for Hajime to explain things about the beast, like its strength, its taste for honey, how to avoid it, including playing dead, and easier ways to kill it that whatever they did.

Eventually, while the brunette was carving the beast and Nagito was helping with his magic, the fox spoke up. “Tell me Hajime.”

“Hum?”

Nagito was fidgeting on his knees as he threw another cut. “After the end of our deal…”

Hajime raised an eyebrow. “Yes?”

The white fox looked down, still fidgeting, before he looked up with a smile and breathed out. “Nevermind. I’ll tell you when it’s time.”

“Sounds ominous…” Awkwardly smiled Hajime.

Nagito laughed. “Maybe it is! I’ll keep the surprise.” He shrugged. “Anyways, I have something for you!”

Hajime put down his knife as the kitsune searched for something in his robes.

He ended up pulling out what looked like a charm, rough white paper with words written on it in red, with a red string and another green paper folded around the white one, as a little improvised case. “Here.”

“A charm?”

“Yes!” Nagito showed the characters written on the paper. “Did it with my own blood!”

“W-what!?” This immediately alarmed Hajime.

“Calm down! I just did a little cut at the tip of my index to write! And without the caster’s blood the charm wouldn’t be able to work.”

“But you didn’t need to do that!”

“I wanted to! Doing charms and origami is quite fun.”

Oh. This was probably the hobby he was talking about earlier Hajime realized. “Where did you even get the paper..?”

Nagito shrugged. “People throw away paper all the time. I just picked up some and cut it up before folding it. I also infused it with magic of course!”

The brunette felt something warm bubble up in his chest. “Well I’m… I’m touched you did that for me.”

“It was the minimum I could do!”

The brunette took a closer look at what was written. “Hope and... future?”

The kitsune nodded. “Yes! This is a protection charm! This charm will always insure you have hope and a future!”

Hajime did have a dangerous job, he wasn’t going to refuse a layer of protection, even if he had no idea if it would work. It was the intention that counted, and he was greatly appreciative of the effort Nagito had put into his gift. “Thank you-” He then noticed he had blood on his hands from carving the bear. “Ah. Hum, can you put it on my belt for me?”

“Sure!” The kitsune scooted behind Hajime and slid the string around his belt, attaching it on the left side. To be sure it stood in place, the white haired teen played with the charm and once he was sure it stayed in place, he slapped on the charm playfully, which was dangerously close to the brunette’s behind.

“WH-” Squeaked out Hajime at the sensation.

The noise made the other laugh.

Hajime had no idea why his heart decided to beat like if he was fighting a demon, and why his face lit on fire faster than Nagito’s actual magical flames, but it was awkward.

The both of them wrapped the day up, and Hajime packed up but before starting to walk back, he reaffirmed: “Thanks for the charm! I’ll treasure it!” As he pat Nagito’s head gently.

He eventually let go and walked away. Nagito waved him goodbye, looking forward to seeing him the next day.

  
  
  


But Hajime didn’t came the next day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess what's coming next chapter? And yes I am leaving yall on a cliffhanger, im an asshole djfhbvw
> 
> tbh i cannot wait to post that next chapter oh man oh man


	4. Cut Open & Left To Bleed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The good times are over.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess what time it is folks?
> 
> :)

Hajime didn’t come again.

Nagito was sitting in front of the carved tree, bearing a smile hiding many emotions.

With no news, for the first time Hajime didn’t come yesterday. And then once again, he didn’t appear today either. It was getting late, the sun was setting and casting an orange light on nature.

Some wouldn’t find that so alarming. It was only two days.

But for Nagito, days were an eternity. Time reduced as a blur.

His entire life was just a blur of numbness with _nothing_ in it.

As a human, he was bedridden from a little child to a teen with a brain dying too much to detect anything around it. Then his life ended at a tender age with no memories aside from the colors of his bedroom’s walls. If it even was his bedroom at all.

Then, for whatever reason, he had a connection close enough to paranormal to be reincarnated as a kitsune. Maybe someone took pity on him and held a reincarnation ritual for him, since it was pretty clear he was doomed, and he could barely recall his family being wealthy enough to afford something like that. And his life as a lowly creature wasn’t that much better. At least he could walk, breathe correctly and not be in physical pain every second, as well as having nice fluffy tails, very useful magic, and a beast form, but that didn’t undermine his new problems.

He was just a teen with no clue how to live correctly thrown into the wild.

Well to be precise, when he was reincarnated, before dying, his soul was extracted from his mortal body thanks to the ritual, with charms and spells, and his soul went back to its dead mortal envelope to then reincarnate as a kitsune.

As it did so, he was too shocked to register what was happening, and fled his own home before getting lost forever in the forest.

Then everything was just a smudge in memory’s painting. Wandering, trying to find food in villages, while some would try and show him some kindness peer pressure would end up with him being chased away for being a filthy illusionist creature. A fact he accepted wholeheartedly. He was alone, wandering in an empty earth, with no one to care for him and nothing to care for.

So, one day, he settled down for the most demon hateful village he could find, killed their sheeps to feed himself, and waited until they finally decided to kill him. At least he wouldn’t die a meaningless death at his own hands, and would instead be the result of years of fear and dislike, dying like the demon he was.

But that changed. Hajime changed that.

He wanted to see him. It was the only thing he was looking forward to anymore. For the first time in his life he had a friend, had someone he remembered the face of, the voice, the scent, the touch, the personality, and was keeping his in mind in return.

He felt alive again. He finally had everything he wanted out of life, hope, friendship, future, someone to love that gave love in return.

All the things he never felt before.

So yes, Hajime didn’t come for two days, and that was enough for Nagito to be worried out of his mind.

He could tell Hajime tried to build an independence in him. Being able to be alone and do his own things, and yes that helped, that was what got him through the first day, but now, he couldn’t contain his anxiety anymore.

So, he did the thing he never thought he would do. He got up, and went down the slope towards the village.

Right away he could tell something was wrong. Deeply wrong.

The sun had disapeared and nightime announced itself. There was nobody on the outskirts, not even to take care of the animals. The populace seemed to be concentrated at the very center.

Not caring about his safety and more about Hajime’s, he ventured deeper into the guts of the town.

He finally got to the townsquare, and his fears were only growing.

“We will burn the demon away! Including thy who has associated with evil! We must purge!”

And there was much cheering.

People were surrounding a stake, and the one speaking up was holding a torch.

He got closer, ignoring the massive anxiety building deep in his stomach.

Nagito heard something in the middle of the crowd as the wind blew.

  
  


Tiny bells ringing.

  
  


Dread filled his insides as his eyes slowly got up the ritual’s altar.

There was a figure in the center. Attached in the middle of the stake.

Someone with a gashing wound in the left eye and the heart.

Dead.

His mind shattered.

Crumbled into pieces.

Loudly scattered.

Until there was nothing left.

Nagito started laughing.

His laughter brought the attention of the villagers, who were screaming and panicking at the sight of the demon, some quickly stepped forward with weapons to block his way.

However Nagito didn’t pay attention. He was staring at the corpse in the middle of the stake, his mind blocked everything but what he was seeing.

The wind blew again, and bells rang, attached to a string on the body’s neck.

Hajime.

Nagito cried.

Tears bursted from his eyes, liquid poured out from every inch of his body, it was desperate to release the immeasurable suffering he was going under.

The villagers were surrounding him and spouting threats, telling him it was too late for him to get his “servant”, as he was going to be purified in holy flames.

But Nagito kept laughing, chuckling, with a smile like the edge of a knife on his face.

But that smile didn’t reach his eyes.

“How _dare you.”_ He giggled.

He was in pain. In so much pain, he was dead all over again.

“How _dare you_ do that.”

Has despair engulfed his body, it started to slowly difform.

_“Why.”_

The white of his hair started to spread.

“He did _nothing wrong.”_

The hair became thick fur.

“He was _innocent.”_

His nails grew in sizes.

“He _made me happy.”_

The tip of his ears became blood red.

“He gave me _hope.”_

His teeth became fangs.

“He gave _meaning_ to my _miserable existence.”_

His tails became numerous and danced like fire.

“He was my **everything.”**

His voice came out distorted in his massive toothy mouth.

“But you robbed him.”

Blue fire erupted from his fur.

“Robbed him of _his life.”_

A huge clawed paw hit the ground with frightening force, its claws making a shrieking sound.

“Robbed him _from me.”_

His spine and bones snapped in place as he achieved his new gigantic size.

_“He didn’t deserve to die.”_

He stared with his beastly eyes and beard all of his fangs towards everything around him.

**_“Just like how you don't deserve to live.”_ **

Screams, ashes, burning, blood, pain. That’s all he remembered.

The next image he knew, the scent of ash was plaguing his nostrils and he was holding his only friend’s cold corpse.

The mass was maybe freezing, unmoving and bloody, but Nagito would never call it a burden.

It... He was Hajime, and he was never anything other than beautiful. Even in death.

“We’re leaving Hajime.”

He declared as tiny bells rang with his footsteps, walking away from the burning catastrophe behind him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am not sorry.
> 
> Don't worry it ain't over yet, happy ending is still on the horizon, but I am still not sorry.


	5. Unholy Suffering

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nagito is in pain.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I let the suffering simmer for a while and it's time to put another dose in the mix  
> Also sorry, this chapter is pretty short jsfdnsj

Nagito wasn’t alive anymore. He was an undead. A pile of flesh carrying itself and a dead body across the lands with no purpose, no goals, and no will to live.

He was still breathing because he honored Hajime’s memory. They bonded over hunting, he taught him how to live and fed himself. Hunting and eating everyday was getting closer to the hunter, so Nagito never stopped.

Never stopped. Ever. He kept walking with Hajime's frail cold body in his hands. The snappy warm hunter was reduced to nothing but a weak motionless carnal envelope. Even so, Nagito made it a point to protect this poor form with his magic, to keep it from deteriorating. Hajime shall remain himself until the end.

But it didn’t stop Nagito from feeling empty. He had nothing to live for anymore.

He thought that changed. That Hajime changed that, and that was the case, but he was robbed of his life. Of everything. 

Nagito’s hope was taken away, and now the only thing remaining was despair.

He collapsed next to a waterfall. The sound of the water crashing would’ve made an ungodly amount of noise, but Nagito had longed since been unable to hear anything aside from echoes of his memory.

Hajime’s body was pressed against him, sitting on his lap and head on the kitsune’s chest. Something a lover would do. But Hajime couldn’t do anything, not anymore.

Nagito slid his hand across his air. His temperature couldn’t be raised, but the creature kept Hajime clean, as his hair stayed prickly under the fox’s fingertips. He took the brunette’s hand and slid it his own hair as well. His mind latching onto the memories of the brunette ruffling his hair gently.

He let one of his hands fall down, and while it did, it brushed against none other than the good luck charm he gave to Hajime. Alas, it was burned. Only the top part with the string was left. Nagito never let or saw Hajime near a fire, and he believed what Hajime when he said he would treasure it. So he did not know it turned out this way, but he only knew it made him terribly sad. Actually, it was probably because it failed. Of course it failed. Nagito should’ve known anything he would ever produce would fail.

In that moment of weakness, he let out an admission that put his life in danger.

“I want… I want to be with you…”

He was with Hajime. Literally.

But not entirely.

He knew that, of course he knew that, but that didn’t stop the realization from crushing him on the inside.

And it was doing so ever since he gazed on him tied up in that stake.

He wanted to die all over again.

He opened his mouth to breathe the only words he could at that instant, but that sentence came from another person.

“How unfortunate.”

He slowly looked towards the voice that echoed his thoughts. There standing was a woman, with overflowing blond twintails and deep blue eyes.

“That’s what you were thinking right? I mean…” She looked down at Nagito. “A kitsune going around with a dead body is unfortunate.”

Nagito didn’t answer.

She crossed her arms. “Stabbed twice, right in the eye and heart huh? At least his death was quick. Unless the eye stabbing came first. Then he died a horrible painful death.”

He stayed silent. He had no strength to answer.

“I can read it in your eyes. Who am I you ask? Well, I am Junko Enoshima. You could call me… a witch.”

No reaction.

She closed her eyes and sighed. But then slowly opened them as she declared with a low tone of voice: “But I accessorily double as a  _ necromancer.” _

Nagito’s eye moved as he could feel a spark inside him.

“I see I got a reaction! Well. I think we both know what you want right from me in this moment isn’t it?”

He stared at her.

_ “Oh _ I can just  _ sense _ the despair, and in the middle this  _ tiny _ spark of hope. Well.”

She said words that were so familiar to Nagito.

“Let’s make a deal.”

She clapped her hands together.

“You want something from me, and I want something from you as well.” She walked closer to him. “I’ve heard of you. I’ve heard of the Tragedy you’ve caused. Some survivors told the tale, a monster attacked, maddened by grief as its servant’s dead body was about to be burned… But I’m smart. And I can tell this boy was more than just a “servant’ to you. Or rather, he wasn’t one at all.”

She was right. He was something much,  _ much _ more significant. It wasn’t even possible to compare between the two status.

“I cannot imagine the despair you felt in those moments…  _ Ah~ it must’ve felt so…” _ She cleared her throat. “My apologies. But that despair… I need it. I need despair for my power. I need despair for my ambitions. However, I’ve already inflicted on myself everything I could think of to squeeze this feeling out of me… So now...”

She lifted the kitsune’s chin with her hand, her blood red nails digging into his cheek.

“Your despair. Give it to me.”

She stared deep into his eyes, the deep blue of her retinas swallowing the white fox’s entire mind.

  
“If you give me  _ all _ of your despair… then I’ll bring back your little sweetheart.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am again not sorry.
> 
> And for those wondering why couldn't Nagito reincarnate Hajime with a ritual, first he doesn't know how to do it, and second Hajime was dead for a day. It's too late as the ritual needs to be prepared while the person is still alive.


	6. Spark of Life

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nagito is trapped in Junko's grasp. However, an uninvited guest arrives.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Time to start and try to fix the angst jdbcsjkw

Everything was still a blur. Same stone walls, same darkness, aside from the deep red colors around him, same sensations that were sucking out his sanity, looking at the same black exit, a stone entrance where outside the room everything was just dark.

Nagito had forgotten how long he was there. For how long he made this promise, for how long he has been trapped inside the blood red crystal, for how long Hajime had been conserved inside another blue crystal, for how long he had not been allowed to see him, for how long Junko has been taking his despair, and for how much longer he will need to comply to hear his hunter’s sweet voice enter his fox ears again.

He didn’t even know for what his despair was used, nor what was the witch doing in the first place, but he didn’t care. There was only one thing that mattered anyways.

Hajime was what he needed and solely needed. It was his only hope left, and he was going to keep it. Because it didn’t leave. Hajime never left. Ever.

So he will stay for one more day, or month, or year, or decade, until he would be rewarded. Stay inside that red crimson crystal, breathing the same air, looking at the same walls, hearing the same sounds, until he will be alive again.

Just like how the white haired teen did in his previous life, but this time, he had something to wait for other than death.

He listened to a drop of water coming down the ceiling and hitting the stone floor. Maybe it was raining above, or it was time for his daily drink to sip inside the crystal.

However, rapid repeated steps quickly came closer. They were too fast, too heavy to be Junko’s. Something was breaking the routine. Eyes heavy, Nagito fixed the entrance of his room, waiting for the unexpected guest.

In came a teenager, a human, but the kitsune sensed powerful magic from him. Dark haired and a scar over an eye, part of his face hidden by a scarf and dressed like a sorcerer.

The teen talked with a deep voice. “I have achieved my destination! This is the core of this wretched woman’s magic! Now! My Four Dark Devas of Destruction!” From his scarf came out tiny animals that Nagito never saw before. “Come! And destroy this maleficent rock!”

Deadpan, exhausted, the white fox just asked. “Who are you? And what are you doing?”

The other gasped. “A beast inside the crystal! I see… this evil witch must’ve drained her power from another living ressource… Over a hundred year’s worth of mana supply was right for her picking.”

A hundred years? Was it for how long he was trapped? Well whatever.

“But allow me to introduce myself…” He struck a pose. “I am Gundham Tanaka! The mighty Warlock! And I am here to slay the witch Junko Enoshima, and guide a lost soul back to its envelope of flesh!”

“You can’t do that.” Answered the creature.

The sudden serious response seemed to have cut the other’s boast clean, and he said in a surprisingly normal manner: “And why not?”

“I trapped myself here of my own volition. Only Junko can bring back what I lost. We made a deal, and to obtain my end of the bargain, my lowly self must remain trapped here until she has taken away everything she needed from me.”

The warlock, Gundham remained speechless, before letting out his pity. “You  _ fool…” _ He winced. “Junko Enoshima is naught but a filthy manipulator! She is not going to fulfill her end of the deal! She does not respect the basic laws of this world! It is all but a trick! An  _ illusion! _ She has been using you for a century like a doll in the hands of a puppet master, and has been terrorizing the land for just as many revolutions! Free yourself from her grasp! From her lies!”

“You think I don’t already know that?”

The warlock was silent again for a beat. “What do you mean?”

The fox chuckled. “I know she’s probably not going to keep her word. Like this, she can exploit me for all my miserable worth. But… I don’t care.” The chuckle became a laughter. “I don’t care!  _ I don’t care! _ It’s the hope that she will one day give me back said hope that keeps me among the land of the living!” He got up and opened his arms to the nonexistent sky. “I have lost my life already you see? Humanity’s selfishness and hate took away the one thing that gave me a future! So  _ I don’t care!  _ They can die for all I know! I can perish too! As long as my hope comes back to me, or that my life becomes a stepping stone for my hope to be brought back, I don’t care for  _ anything!” _

Hajime was all that matters.

While the illusionist creature was laughing his sanity away, Gundham stayed silent, before turning to an empty spot next to him. “The hope you lost you say?”

“Yes! Do you know how it feels to have someone else give you what you always wanted? For you to love them and them to love you? I  _ craved _ that feeling, it was fulfilled for the simple span of two weeks, but it was robbed from me.” A smile that didn’t reach his eyes formed on his face. “Do you understand how this feels?  _ Do you?” _

“I alas… do not.” Softly replied the warlock.

Nagito kept laughing. “Then you cannot tell me what to do! You cannot even fathom the decisions I took! The reason why I even took them! You know  _ nothing!” _

“Indeed.” Gundham closed his eyes. “Those feelings and sensations are mostly foreign to me, and it is true that I cannot imagine the weight resting on your shoulders.” 

He opened his eyes.

“However.”

He turned back to the empty spot next to him.

“I might know a soul that does.”

From inside the crystal, Nagito somehow felt a cold breeze, like death brushed the environment.

Gundham continued. “I have declared the following before: I am here to slay the witch Junko Enoshima, and guide a lost soul back to its envelope of flesh. Your hundred year emprisonnement surely had an effect on your knowledge of this world’s paranormal laws, so allow me to light back your intellect. A soul might be extracted from their corpse before the cold embrace of the end, through spells or charms, if they can reunite with their bloody body, they can be reborn as a new existence. But sometimes, the soul awakens lands away from their place of rest, and must wander far and wide through the earth to take a hold of its envelope once more. Ence, a wandering soul.” He gestured next to him. “During my incensent travels, I have met one of said souls, as I possess the gift of seeing their light and hearing their whispers. And I made it my duty to allow those spirits to find the life that was unfairly robbed from their cold dead hands! And here is one of them, a lost soul, following the trailing connection it has to its corpse to be reborn.” He closed his eyes once again and took a step back. “I will let it speak to you, as from the tale you communicated to us, perhaps you know of this sole wandering existence.”

“Nonsense. I know no one.” Coldly replied the desperate creature.

Another cold breeze blew through the environment, and he felt the temperature drop in front of him, there was a freezing presence right in front of his red transparent window.

Like a child blowing on a cold glass in winter, mist hit the crystal, forming a fog on its surface. Like someone was writing with their fingers on it, letters appeared:

_ “Just watch.” _

Nagito raised an eyebrow.

Silence followed, but it was quickly interrupted by a sound the kitsune had not heard in a century.

The sound of magical sparks.

It resonated harder through the cave, and then, said sparks finally appeared and flew high up in the air to explode in a familiar shape.

  
  


A blue star in sparks of green and white.

  
  


Words came back to the pale kitsune, words from his own mouth.

_ “This charm will always insure you have hope and a future!“ _

Did it..? No.

The charm worked all along.

Nagito could feel tears form in the corners of his eyes.

As if on cue, fog reappeared on the crystal’s surface, along with new letters.

_ “Yeah. I missed you too.” _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Guess who's back_  
>  Yeah folks! It's time  
> tho writing the final chapter will take me some time, so i'm sorry if it ends up a bit late ndnjcwkldf,


	7. Alive Again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One's soul must return to its body to reincarnate has a new existence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  _I'm so sorry for the long wait, uni has been kicking my ass_  
>  So I hope you enjoy this finale at least!  
> And it's probably full of typos hjdhbc sorry if it pulls you out of the immersion jdfvhbdjx

This was all he needed to know and see.

Emotions surged from deep within him, things he hadn’t felt in a hundred years, like joy. As those feelings rushed out, he couldn’t control himself, and power erupted from inside himself.

Every single moment for a century was wiped away in a single second, the pain, suffering, the sadness, the fear, gone.

Before he knew it, the crystal around him was dust, and he was on the ground looking around, excited and feeling the breath of life inside him again.

“Hajime! Hajime where are you!?” He said with a wide smile.

Gundham, in the corner of the room, hiding after Nagito blew up the crystal to free himself, clarified: “You cannot see souls! And you cannot touch them. Only  _ they _ can touch, see and hear  _ you.” _

“Oh. Right.” He then afterwards also realized he was still on the ground. He got up and dusted off his garb with an awkward laugh.

He then felt a cold force taking his hand and opening its palm. Inside Nagito’s hand, the soul was writing a character that the fox could decipher thanks to the sensation.  _ “Idiot.” _

Nagito laughed. “You’re still the same as ever!’

He felt a light punch coming down on his hand.

_ “Ow-” _ He laughed some more. “Don’t worry, I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

The grip on his hand softened and stopped maving. That way of behaving was the same as always too.

The warlock spoke up. “Now is not the time for heartfelt reunions! Today is the day Junko’s reign of terror ends!”

Nagito ignored him. His tears still fresh in his eyes, he tried enrolling his other hand around the cold grasp. “I… I lack words to express my sheer happiness at the moment! I do not care if I can’t touch you or hear you, just knowing you are here fills my heart with hope!” With a blink, the tears were rolling hot on his cheeks.

The grasp softened, and Hajime wrote on his hand again with gentle mouvements.  _ “Same.” _

Feeling the character on his palm, another set of tears appeared in the kitsune’s eyes as he let out a sound of sheer joy.

The writing became more determined.  _ “But”; “Body” _

A realization hit Nagito.

Hajime’s body is in Junko’s grasps. If his soul slipped back into it…

He would be reborn again. He would be here again. He would be here, and Nagito could see him, hear him,  _ touch him- _

He didn’t care about Junko anymore, screw his bargain with her, he will take Hajime’s body away from her and hand it back to him.

However, it was pretty clear she wouldn’t do so without a fight.

Determination built up in the white haired teen’s. The fact that he stood no chance against a powerful witch like Junko was completely crushed by the hope of succeeding and getting to see his hunter again.

He turned towards the warlock. “Gundham?”

“What is it illusionary fox?”

He put his hand on his chest and smiled. “May I participate in the beat down of the witch?”

Gundham laughed. “Why of course! As you mortals would put it the more the merrier! And I’m sure the taste of revenge will be tasty to you!” He kept laughing and his weird animals kept jumping in his hands. He turned around towards the exit. “Now! Let us go forth! I sense the evil presence, I shall guide you fools to the witch!”

Still feeling a grasp in his hand, Nagito followed the sorcerer in the dark. Said sorcerer snapped his fingers and a ball of purple flame appeared from his hand, lighting his steps. It had been for who knew how long since Nagito had stepped in these corridors, or stepped at all. However, he was still able to move without any trouble. Probably one of the perks of being immortal, but he decided it was thanks to the presence of Hajime, that breathed in his new life on the spot.

It didn’t take long for them to find Junko. She was in a wide room of stone lit but a gigantic thick blue crystal in the center.

In said crystal was the blurry silhouette of their objective.

The woman shrugged. “Yep, it’s time for the whole rebellion shtick isn’t it? Oh well. I knew it already. Come on!” She turned around. “This is the moment someone says “Die monster, you don’t belong in this world!” right?”

Nagito shook his head. However he looked over to Gundham, who seemed frustrated his quote was stolen.

The witch continued. “And hello Nagito. Here for your boyfriend’s body? Sorry, I don’t like handing my possessions over.”

Nagito smiled, but his eye twitched. “This body doesn’t belong to you.”

“Oh but it is! Ever since you gave it to me to return your little boytoy.”

This was the moment the kitsune realized there was a mass of built up frustration deep within his guts, begging to come out. Suppressed for who knew how long, without knowing, and it was forcing its way out, pleading for revenge but wasn’t waiting for an answer.

This was probably why he was starting to feel bones expanding in his hand, and fur growing on his neck.

However, said hand was now being squeezed by a cold, but reassuring grasp. It helped keep his phalaxes in line. No need to get angry out of his mind, all he needed was to secure a win, and get the body back.

Gundham seemed to have found a new line to drop. “We will rid the world of your foul existence! Now-” The animals got out of his scarf and an aura surrounded him. “Now, come at thee fool!”

She sighed. “Straight to the point huh? Oh well.”

She raised her hand, and inside formed a ball of darkness.

“I’m already bored of you all. Might as well take care of it. But don’t worry Mister fox, I still need to feed on you some more! Maybe I’ll rip out a limb or two.”

Ah. Fighting. Nagito might be a magical creature, but that was never his forte. So while Gundham and Junko started throwing balls of energy at each other, Nagito ran towards the crystal.

But of course Junko threw a projectile his way to stop him. “Oh no you don’t!”

However, a cold pull managed to make him dodge the iminent world of hurt. Even invisible, he still took care of him. He breathed out a “Thank you!” and continued on his way.

Meanwhile, the witch was trying to focus her attention on the fox, but Gundham was aware of that, and used his enchanted animals to distract her and launch sneaky attacks.  _ “I _ am your opponent you fool! You must focus all of your power on me and me alone! For I am the Great Overlord of Ice,  _ Gundham Tanaka!” _

On that cue, the warlock demonstrated the meaning of this name as he stepped on the ground, and beneath his feet expanded ice as well as blocks of thick ice surrounded his pets. Once they crashed into Junko, the added layers on them made them hit like tiny cold meteors, which was something the witch clearly didn’t appreciate.

The dark haired teen boasted. “My power is greater than yours! I trained for eons for this moment, and as soon as the fox stepped out of your transparent crystal cage, you were depleting your own ressource, the one that keeps you alive!”

Junko stayed silent and threw more dark energy in his direction, which he avoided with some well placed jumps.

“It’s only a matter of time before your mortal flesh gives up on you!” He laughed as he kept dodging. “It’s already over witch! Go down quietly like the lowly worm you are!”

Far in the back of the room, Nagito declared: “Don’t sorry she will.”

They both turned towards the fox. He was standing on the massive crystal, indexes and middle fingers tied together.

The witch laughed. “Like you’re going to do it! Despair has already overtook you, getting a dead body back won’t save you! Despair will blossom inside and kill you!”

Nagito laughed, his brain ignoring the blab of nonsense she spelled out.

“No Junko. I’ve been dead for a century now.”

He raised his hand.

“Today  _ I live again.” _

He quickly put it down and the slice cleanly shattered the face of the crystal. Particles of the transparent mass exploded through the room, inside, Hajime’s flesh was exposed to the air.

The kitsune put his foot down and descended into the shattered rock, picking up the freeze mass like a groom would pick up his bride.

A dead cold breeze enveloped him, and he could almost perceive a subtle blue light descending upon the corpse.

As it did so, a blinding yellow light submerged the form, forcing the white kitsune to close his eyes.

However, he heard the sound of a breath.

He felt something move in his arms, jumping out of it, which made the sound of ringing bells.

Behind his closed eyelids, he noticed the light had disappeared. When he opened his eyes, Hajime was no longer in his grasp. He hurriedly looked around for his brunette, and eventually found him, standing in front of the blue crystal, staring dead at Junko.

He now wore a garb somewhat similar to Nagito’s, made of white green and brown. On his head were two fox ears, replacing his human ears that had disappeared. A total of nine brown tails was peeking from his clothing, and his previously stabbed missing eye was now replaced by one of a deep blood red. His skin became of a healthy tan color again, and there was a burning fire in his eyes.

Nagito was overwhelmed by sheer awe and joy as he admired the newborn kitsune’s glory and beauty, he had to use every inch of himself to keep his body from instinctively tackling Hajime in a loving hug. But he knew his current place, it was no time for a reunion, and it was clear from the anger ablaze in the brunette’s pupils as he glared holes into the witch.

Said witch was desperately trying to save the face she had long since lost. “Look at that, a furry boy was reborn! What a twist, I’ll admit-”

He interrupted her with a heavy sigh and closed his eyelids. “Yeah cool.” He deadpanned.

Then he opened his eyes with an exhausted look.

“But how about you fuck off?”

He pulled his index finger and middle finger together, and with one swift movement, his magic cut slit Junko’s throat.

For how much she was boasting and making herself grand, in the end, she was pathetic and went down with a single move from a newborn kitsune.

He let out an unbelievably loud sigh of relief. “Holy  _ SHIT _ I’ve wanted to do this for  _ SO LONG.” _ He laughed out loud. “It’s  **DONE!** Finall-”

He was interrupted by a tackle from his fellow kitsune, prompting the bells at his neck to ring. He too, in the middle of a laughing fit.  _ “Y-you’re- Hajime- I-” _ Hajime could only make out nonsensical syllables out of the others mouth, understandably overwhelmed by emotion.

He let Nagito cry or laugh it out while returning the hug. Both of them starving for physical affection, they squeezed each other tight, basking in each other’s warmth, needing no words to communicate their happiness at seeing and touching each other after so long.

Meanwhile, Gundham decided to leave the two lovebirds alone, consecrating Junko’s remains, purging her forever from this world. “You shall never make mortals tremble again.  _ Begone foul woman!” _ The fire bursted with an otherworldly cry, and went out quietly, as her soul moved on to the underworld.

Nagito never wanted to let go ever again, there were no words in his vocabulary to describe the relief he felt feeling the brunette’s breath, heartbeat, and warmth. To feel him alive.

Hajime chuckled. “Man… we’ve got a lot to catch up to. I have so many things to tell you! Seriously, the world changed  _ a lot.” _ He laughed. “Even with that bitch around, people and demons still found a way to advance, that’s pretty amazing. I’m still glad she’s out! After all the awful things she’s done…”

A thought crept in Nagito’s mind.

Hajime squeezed him. “I can already tell you’re gonna blame yourself for that, don’t worry ok? It wasn’t your fault, she’s the one who tricked you into this. You don’t need to feel bad.”

“But…”

Nagito hated to bring this up, but he needed to be truthful with him.

“You know, I’ve done something terrible too.”

He swallowed.

“After… after you were... I… I burned down the town!” He punctuated with a sad smile. “Rage and hatred overtook me and I-”

Hajime interrupted him. “Yeah, I know.”

To the white kitsune’s surprise, his voice wasn’t filled with disappointment or anger.

“I heard about it. And don’t get me wrong, going on a rampage  _ was _ bad, and you should repent for that.”

Nagito looked down.

“But…” Hajime shrugged. “They kinda killed me and planned to burn my corpse so I can’t exactly be really mad at you. Also…”

A hand slid on Nagito’s cheek that made him look up, next thing he knew, there was something warm and wet pressed against his cheek.

He let out a little shocked gasp as Hajime pulled back, looking away with a very present blush.

“I-I’ll have all the time in the world to make sure you atone for that.”

With that, Nagito’s entire heart burned down with too many happy emotions to describe.

Instincly, his hands grabbed Hajime’s face.

_ “Wh-” _

The brunette didn’t have time to finish his sentence as the white kitsune was silencing him with his lips.

Nagito wanted to do that. He just  _ wanted it so badly. _ To taste Hajime, to put his scent and marks on him, making him his to keep him safe from others, to claim him and be his protector until the end of times. Among other things. In that instant, Nagito understood somewhat those other demons that indulged in physical pleasures. He would need to look into that more.

It took some time for the brunette kitsune to get over his shock and get comfortable to return the affections. Sliding his hands on the other’s back and hair and kissing back.

The sensation made them feel like the doors of heaven just opened to them, there were legends about the higher plane offering salvation once an existence had achieved their purpose on the mortal plane.

However, they both decided to stick around. They had eternity before them to be with each other, and catch up the time lost.

And they were going to enjoy it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this series while listening to Freddie Mercury’s The Great Pretender. You have no idea how much this fits. This song gives me huge Nagito vibes anyway.  
> Also you can imagine now Hunter Kitsune Hajime going around with his bf spreading demon love and equality.  
> Sorry if the ending is too abrupt djhcbfdsj but i hope you enjoyed this series!  
> I'm working on another one but... it's gonna take a while to do. Like. A VERY long while jcndshbj  
> Thank you for your time!


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